Philip Boyle

Associate Professor | Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies, Legal Studies

PhD Sociology (Alberta)                              

photo of philip boyle

MA Sociology (Windsor)

BA Criminal Justice (Mount Royal)

UWaterloo Scholar Website

Email: ls-associatechair@uwaterloo.ca; 519-888-4567 x 41577

Research and teaching areas

  • Security
  • Resilience
  • Policing
  • Urban governance
  • Mega-event security
  • Emergencies & disasters
  • Public safety
  • Organized crime

Current research

My research is broadly concerned with contemporary developments in policing, security, and public safety. I am particularly interested in these themes in relation to cities and urban governance. My previous research examined the securitization of the Olympic Games in the post-9/11 period. This research has been published in Security Dialogue, International Political Sociology, the British Journal of Sociology, the Canadian Journal of Sociology, and Urban Studies. I am currently working on a two-year project funded by a SSHRC Insight Development Grant (2014-2016) in which I am investigating the embrace of resilience in critical infrastructure security policy in Canada. This project is animated by my interests in the ‘politics of catastrophe’ and the question of how we plan for unknown and unknowable risks.

Selected publications

  • Boyle, P. ‘Building a Safe & Resilience Canada: Resilience & the Mechanopolitics of Infrastructure. Forthcoming in Resilience: International Policies, Practices, & Discourses.
  • Molnar, A., C. Whelan, & P. Boyle. 2018. Securing the Brisbane 2014 G20 in the Wake of the Toronto G20: ‘Failure-inspired’ Learning in Public Order Policing. British Journal of Criminology. Advance online available June 2018.

  • Boyle, P. & S. Speed. 2018. From Protection to Coordinated Preparedness: A Genealogy of Critical Infrastructure Security in Canada. Security Dialogue 49(3): 217-231.

  • O’Connor, D., P. Boyle, S. Ilcan, & M. Oliver. 2017. Living with Insecurity:  Resilience, Food Security, & the World Food Program. Global Social Policy 17(1): 3-20.

  • Boyle, P., D. Clement & K. Haggerty. Forthcoming. Iterations of Olympic Security: Montreal and Vancouver. Security Dialogue.
  • Boyle, P. 2012. Risk, Resiliency and Urban Governance: The Case of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games. Canadian Review of Sociology 49(4): 350-369.
  • Boyle, P. & K.D. Haggerty. 2012. Planning for the Worst: Risk, Uncertainty, and the Olympic Games. British Journal of Sociology 63(2): 241-259.
  • Boyle, P. & K.D. Haggerty. 2011. Civil Cities and Urban Governance: Regulating Disorder in Vancouver. Urban Studies 48(15): 3185-3201.
  • Boyle, P. 2011. Knowledge Networks: Mega-Events and Security Expertise. In C. Bennett and K.D. Haggerty (eds.), Security Games: Surveillance and Control at Mega-Events, pgs. 184-199. Taylor and Francis.
  • Boyle, P. & K.D. Haggerty. 2009. Spectacular Security: Mega-Events and the Security Complex. International Political Sociology 3(3): 257-274.

Research grants

2014-2016. From Protection to Resilience: The Socio-Political Dimensions of Critical Infrastructure Security. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Development Grant. Sole Investigator.